WATCH: Brevard Sheriff Wayne Ivey Warns Space Coast Residents of Surge in Holiday Scams

Unpaid Tolls, Jury Duty, Bitcoin: Sheriff Ivey Says These Are All Scams

WATCH: Sheriff Ivey Issues Holiday Message: Stay Safe, Stay Alert, Stay Scam-Free

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Hey, everybody. Sheriff Wayne Ivey here. Hey, I want to take a minute and talk to everybody. You know, we’re right here at Christmas time. A lot of different scams and similar things are going on out there.

So I want to talk to everybody about a few safeguards. First and foremost, a lot of different scams. There’s the one you get on your text message where you’ve got unpaid tolls or unpaid traffic tips.

There’s the one where they call you and tell you you didn’t show up for court or for jury duty and and now you’ve got a warrant for your arrest— but you can pay the the fine on it and not get arrested. There’s the, the grandchild’s been arrested scam. There’s the, you need to pay us in Bitcoin, a factor to it.

All of these things are going around. And it’s not just at Christmas time, it’s all year long, but we certainly see it elevate the number of victims at Christmas time. We just had two of our seniors here in Brevard County that fell victim to these types of crimes and lost thousands and thousands of dollars.

So as the sheriff, I am begging you, please. If you get a text message telling you to click on a link, don’t click on it. If you get a phone call telling you that you’re going to be arrested because you didn’t show up for court or something. Of that nature, don’t fall for it. That’s not how we do business. We don’t call and forewarn you that we’re coming to arrest you.

And we certainly don’t allow you to pay a fine to avoid being arrested. It’s all a scam. So please, if you get one of these types of calls, if you get an email, if you get a text message. Please. Delete it? Thank you. Turn it off. Hang up the phone. Whatever it is that you do, please get away from it.

And I know that, you know, a lot of our seniors here aren’t on social media. They’re not on the different platforms. So I would ask you, if you have someone in your family that doesn’t see some of our public service announcements or our warnings about these scams, please bring the awareness to them. Let them know not to click on things. The only thing I wanna see them click on is their seatbelt.

That’s the only thing I want. Make sure they’re not clicking on links, whether it’s on the computer, in a text message, or whatever. Just make sure they avoid these scams. And as I said, there’s all sorts of them out there. The latest ones we’re seeing involve them trying to get you to pay your fine with Bitcoin or them trying to get you to invest in something with Bitcoin.

We see the scam where they’re claiming to be deputy sheriffs and they’ve got a warrant for your arrest. None of those things are reality. So disconnect, delete. Whatever it is, get away from it and don’t fall for these scams. I hope everybody has an awesome and Merry Christmas. And please let everybody know that these scams are out there and to stay away from them.

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